THE RIDE-TREK TO HARISCHANDRAGAD
KHIRESHWAR: It was a super special Diwali dhamaka offer: A cool night ride that would transform into a tantalizing trek to Harischandragad. I would be a fool to reject the bumper chance. I wasn’t. So, on Friday evening, I got pushed in and out of the crowded Indrayani Express, and standing still on my two legs for two-and-a-half hours reached Kalyan at 9 pm. There, joined by a gang of nine, led by Rohit Nayak, we headed to Harischandragad on five bikes at around 12.30 am for our date with the divine night.Bouncing up and down the bumpy road, we rode on in the still and peaceful night with nothing to disturb us except the rulers of the road, the trucks, whizzing past us. And we were treated to some delicious ingredients of a night life: The roots of the banyan trees eerily hanging overhead. The changing colours of the crescent-shaped moon from red to orange to yellow and all the shades in-between. The vast canopy of the chilly dense fog emitting a glow-like aura in the vehicle lights coming from the opposite direction. And the blow cold, blow hot wind as we ascended the curves and switchbacks of Malshej Ghat. It was one of those memorable nights that would be forever locked safely in the inner folds of our collective minds.
Just before dawn we reached Khireshwar hurtling down the bone-shaking 7-km patch of rocky road to join six others led by Parag Vartak. A short nap and a quick breakfast later, at 7 am, we got on to our feet in the mighty and picturesque mountains that lent an idyllic charm to Khireshwar.
We walked through the dense forest, carefully hauled ourselves up on the precipitous rock patches, rolled down the waterfall pathways, and crossed one plateau after another and, passing by the huge massifs of Bala Killa and the Taramati, arrived at the temple of Harischandreshwar by 12 noon. And we were literally blown away by the beauty and grandeur of the centuries-old Hemadpanthi temple.
To the left was another temple, the Kedareshwar temple, which had a huge, round shivling standing in refrigerator-cold pool of water inside a cave. It was surrounded by four pillars, three of which have been broken. Local lore has it that when the fourth pillar caves in, the world will come to an end, and you and I wouldn’t have to bother about keeping track of our mobile phones, our mail accounts, and the updates on our social networking sites.
And to the right of Harischandeswar temple was the Saptatirtha Pushkarni, a beautiful lake set in a rock-cut Hemadpanthi enclosure. A small flight of steps at the entrance led to the waterline and a dozen beautifully carved deep niches on the other end housed idols of different gods till recently. All the images have been removed and kept in the main temple to safeguard them from the prying eyes of the antique smugglers. Today the beautiful lake is the site of the trekking groups’ parting photo.
Both the Harischandeswar temple and the lake were surrounded by small square temples of different gods. Beyond the lake were the caves which would be our abode for the night. The first of them was a Shiva temple, and the last a water body, while the remaining were used as residences by the trekkers.
These were just the starters, the mesmerizing main course was reserved for the evening. We hardly had our packed lunch and slept when we were woken up at around 4 pm for a romantic tryst with the sunset. We trudged up the hills and walked the length and breadth of the plateau in the narrow path amidst the green bushes to witness a breathtaking display of the volcanic mass of stony hills at Konkan Kada. The first words to come out of our wide-open mouths were: OH MY GOD!!
Konkan Kada was a huge semi-circular wall of mountain that plunged more than 2,000 ft deep in a semi-arc with the hills on either ends, and some in the middle, racing down in myriads of dense lines. Some of them were crowned with triangular heads, some had spindle shaped tops, and some had bird beak kind of pinnacles. But all of them literally ran down the mountain in an incredible expression of their communion with Mother Earth. It is only man who thinks he is superior, the other species live and let live in perfect harmony with their surroundings.
Through the middle of the amphitheatre below ran a river and the whole patch of earth was intersected with pockets of dense forests and paddy fields. The humungous nature of the semi-circular valley produces a chilling effect in your spine, and the silence is so soothing that you automatically close your eyes after all the oohing and aahing posing for those Facebook profiles.
And the dinner, Maggie noodles cooked in dollops of tomato ketchup, was the perfect recipe to lull us into a fitful sleep in the cosy confines of the rocky cave. The next day’s sunrise on the Taramati hill was the yummy dessert that rounded off the wonderful three-meal course.
No matter where you are, no matter how busy you are, no matter what your social standing is, hunt for an opportunity to go on a trek to Harischandragad. You may not remember it for the rest of your life, but you will definitely not forget it.
Thank you Rohit for having thought of the biking option to Harischandragad, and Hemant and the Parags – Vartak and Jadhav – and all of you who’ve made this trek a memorable experience. And we missed you Sameer Patel and Mandar Saraf.
Here’s wishing all of you a colourful and sparkling Diwali. May this Diwali light up more treks in your life.
Take care and have fun.
Written BY: N Venugopal Rao
